Firefighters Still Battle Tire Blaze

Arson Suspected After 2nd Fire In 11 Months Starts Near Plymouth

PLYMOUTH — Exhausted, soot-covered firefighters late Tuesday continued to douse flames and hose down melted tires at a tire plant that began burning late Monday.

Firefighters from Apopka and Orange County kept flames from reaching four nearby diesel tanks and a plastic and nylon warehouse in the same building.

The fire, the second at the site in 11 months, broke out about 10 p.m. Monday at the Danco plant at U.S. Highway 441 and State Road 437.

A fire on the same site last June kept Apopka and Orange County firefighters battling the blaze for 17 hours. Investigators labeled that fire suspicious but were unable to determine whether it was arson.

Apopka Fire Chief Richard Anderson said investigators could not determine the cause of the fire until the flames were extinguished. A small area continued to burn late Tuesday and Anderson said he hoped the department could put out the blaze by early today.

Anderson said preliminary reports show the blaze started in a mound of tires on the east end of the 3-acre site.

Orange County environmental officials will take samples from nearby Lake Holt and the soil near the tire plant to see if runoff from the water hosing down the tires affected the lake or the ground.

Similar tests after the last fire at the site showed the runoff did not significantly harm the lake or soil, said Nick Sassic, environmental supervisor for Orange County.

The Danco plant buys tires and shreds them. The shredded material is then hauled away for recycling. The part of the building housing Danco was destroyed, but the other half, rented to the plastics company, had only smoke damage.

A concrete roof that collapsed on the tires and a tractor-trailer parked on the lot made it difficult for firefighters to reach the flames, Anderson said.

After an attempt to pick up the concrete roof with a crane failed, Anderson called in a local front-end loader operator to scoop up piles of the jumble of melted tires, concrete and steel supports. The loader moved the tires so that firefighters could spray the remaining flames.